RHS Flower Shows · 2019
The Wedgwood Garden
Designed by Jamie Butterworth, RHS Chatsworth Flower Show 2019
Form founder Jamie Butterworth’s first show garden, created for Wedgwood’s 260th anniversary and awarded an RHS Gold Medal, Best Show Garden, the Best Construction Award and the People’s Choice Award.
Inspired by John Wedgwood, son of the potter Josiah Wedgwood and one of the founders of the Royal Horticultural Society, the garden celebrated his belief that plants and gardening bring people and communities together.
After the show, the garden was moved to the World of Wedgwood in Barlaston, Staffordshire.
Project facts
Designer
Jamie Butterworth
Client
Wedgwood
Occasion
Wedgwood’s 260th anniversary
Show
RHS Chatsworth Flower Show 2019
Awards
RHS Gold Medal, Best Show Garden, Best Construction Award, People’s Choice Award
Legacy
Relocated to the World of Wedgwood, Barlaston
The project
Jamie researched John Wedgwood’s diaries and plant notes in the RHS Lindley Library and drew the planting from them: roses, sweet peas, herbs and trained fruit trees, just as John recorded growing in his own garden.
The colour palette took its cue from Wedgwood’s Jasperware, with soft blues and purples of salvias and catmint woven through lush green foliage, lifted by deep crimson poppies and dark-leaved shrubs, and clouds of white umbellifers to keep it light.
At the heart of the garden was a sunken gathering space with a large oak table and benches, hand carved from an oak that grew near John Wedgwood’s former home in Gloucestershire. A red brick bench sat beside a long, still pool, and espalier fruit trees on the brick walls nodded to John’s notes on training fruit.
It was the first time a garden had won all four of the show’s top honours. Read the full story in our journal: The Wedgwood Garden at RHS Chatsworth Flower Show 2019 →
Gallery
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